Week 14: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly discussion/rant Patriots edition

[JoeyFlex5]

On 12/16/2016 at 4:06 PM, usmccharles said:

Ill admit im excited for this kid to get the bulk of the carries and see what he can do, but im going to hold off those expectations, just like I did with the Buck Allen hype.  A lot of people thought he was our future....

Most were nowhere near as big on Allen as Dixon. Allen has always looked like a steady hard runner who plays smart on 3rd down. Nobody ever thought he was a potential playmaker or a true feature back. Dixon has been hyped as such since college and without his injury in his final season he is probably the 2nd back taken in the draft. 2 very different pedigrees of player. 

I don't recall anyone thinking of buck as a feature back. Although I liked him a lot and think he would've seen more touches of Terrence West hadn't been playing so well.

[kjbmore]

6 hours ago, RavensFanMania said:

I agree there have been some mistakes made from the front office, but no one is perfect. Last year there is no question we had depth issues all over the defense.  This year we are pretty deep all over the defense, but still can't afford to have Jimmy Smith, Suggs or Weddle go down.  No team can afford to have there stars go down without a little drop in performance.  

We've done pretty well with our depth and this past years draft along with the 2014 draft have gone a long way towards improving the defense.  The 2014 draft got to 1st round type players (counting Jerniagan as a 1st rounder) Both are playing at a pro bowl level.  The 2016 draft has brought a future top notch left tackle into the family along with Tavon Young, who is currently the best cb from the draft class, Pierce and Judon.  Let's not forget Dixon, who I believe has the ability to be a very good RB in this league and he is starting to show his worth.  We haven't seen anything from Kaufusi yet but I liked him coming out of college and let's hope KC has a better year two.  In 2015 we drafted Perriman who is starting to do pretty well and Maxx is on IR.  I believe no the of them have breakout seasons in 2017.  Perriman has already showed us he has the ability to be a number 1 receiver with the type of catches he makes, we just need some consistency.  Hopefully having a full offseason and finally a training camp will help.

 

Our problem is we don't have a little drop off, we drop off a cliff if our stars go out

Jimmy, Suggs even losing Stanley

I think we all agree the NFL is a passing league now, not too many sides are just mauling u with the run except Dallas

why the hell do we keep drafting defensive lineman, running backs and linebackers when the most important positions are probably wide receiver, cornerbacks and pass rushers

yet Ozzie & Biscotti keep saying u can never have enough pass rushers or CB 

FO needs to catch up with the new leading franchises, this draft has helped - I think we'll be forced to grab pass rushers and corners just because we'll have to in this coming draft - it's become like Devin Hester letting punt after punt after punt go - it can't be ignored any longer - we need more corner depth and more pass rush

Feels forced though, not planned bit like the whole Devin Hester situation - oh Crap we don't actually have a return man (cornerback depth), grab Hester was great once (resign Jimmys buddy, keep everybody happy) ummm he won't field the ball, hope he stops that (he sucks, jimmy keeps getting hurt) he still won't field it (still sucks, oh he's out again) can't believe he didn't field that (oh crap he's out for the rest of the season)

a lot of holes exposed in this game

Offensive schemes, secondary depth, Hester is probably the smallest and easiest fixed

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by kjbmore

[frozen joe flacco fan]

Good: Another 50 yard FG, two stellar plays by Weddle, great playcall to throw to Waller on play after he dropped a certain TD, great playcall to hit Dixon with a pass in the flat for a wide open TD, Web catching up to tackle a runaway train after Moseley was fooled on the play, setting a franchise record for pass completions in a game, Kamar is becoming a more reliable receiver in the clutch

Bad: Punt returns or lack thereof, Defensive backfield getting torched after Jimmy left the game, Joe getting sacked on a third down and four yards to go in a critical situation, bad play by Weddle on TD to Logan, Elam's play is so bad its good and bad, 5 dropped passes, allowing a player to leapfrog their defensive line and our O-line to block a kick, the safety that caused us to start out in the hole based on Hester's poor judgement or fear of making a fair catch

Ugly: Offensive playcalling was way too imbalanced, time management at end of game, losing Jimmy Smith could be the back-breaker for this highly unusual, unpredictable season.

[-Truth-]

On 12/15/2016 at 7:59 PM, kjbmore said:

Yeah pretty sure lots of successful teams have players who essentially coach themselves and make adjustments as they see fit, sometimes you just need to give general direction and point people on their way, what's an audible - is that not a player coaching themselves and those around them, does a defense change their alignment or look at the los, do players sometimes do that all by themselves

Coach themselves to the extent they know which adjustments need to be made in game, recognise where they need to be etc is that such a hard concept to grasp - that HOF players on all levels of that defense could go out there and communicate amongst themselves and be proactive without having to be instructed by a coach?? Hence coaching ones self or teammates around you.

In 2014 Kubiak was coaching the Offense and guess what?? the defense couldn't defend 2 14 point leads when it mattered - get burnt once yeah but twice 

anyhow let's see what magic Harbs can break out for the rest of the season, time to do some coaching

 

 

 

It seemingly is a difficult concept to grasp considering your definition of the term. Making adjustments, calling audibles and line shifts in no shape or form encompass the responsibilities of a head coach. Do our defenders choose their own plays before coming onto the field? Are their audibles or adjustments self-invented? Do they hold their own meetings and practices, or create their own weekly structure before the week? They follow a specific, pre-determined script created by the coaching staff, which in our case, it's heavily affected on each side by the coordinators. Few players are allowed to adjust. You mentioned Boldin and Rice when describing the team that supposedly coached itself. At what point have you seen Boldin and Rice audible while on the field? No part of that assertion is sensible. With regards to Harbaugh, what changed in terms of structure of his duties in the post-SuperBowl era? I'd understand your argument had he become involved in making calls on either side of the ball following the SuperBowl win and was struggling with the changes, but his involvement has been virtually identical throughout his tenure. Harbaugh sits in on meetings, studies tape and helps form the general game plan. However, if we're referring to the defense, he leans heavily on Dean Pees, who's likely among the freer DCs as far as the defensive game-plan and defensive personnel changes go. Pees was the DC during our 2012. We won the SuperBowl with the 17th ranked defense. The defense that included most of the names you mentioned was our worst ranked defense in over the past half-decade in several categories. Therefore, it lost both of its first-ballot HoFs and supposed coaches and then suddenly improved when it theoretically should've tanked without its leaders given the defense was essentially coached by its players. Makes sense. We gave up two 14 point leads because because we were forced to start our 7th CB who gave up half of their passing numbers. Not much you can do to mask a position that had the same amount players to I.R. as it had active against one of the best QBs of all-time in their stadium.

[hen826957]

On 12/13/2016 at 3:09 PM, codizzle said:

Here's a game to play.. can you spot how many glaring problems there are in this one screenshot 

(ninkovich sack play)

That was a horrible play call. They should've did some quick slants and drag routes instead. SMH

Edited December 18, 2016 by hen826957